Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, 10 Buangkok View, Singapore 539747, Singapore.
Geriatric Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, 10 Buangkok View, Singapore 539747, Singapore.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 11;19(10):5860. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19105860.
Purpose in life (PIL) is a psychological construct that reflects one's life goals and the desire or determination to pursue them. Having a purpose provides an intrinsic motivation to adopt healthy behaviors as we age, which will help us to achieve positive health outcomes. Thus, promoting PIL is the cornerstone for successful aging and better health outcomes. This systematic review aims to identify how PIL is conceptualized, measured in the existing literature and what are the determinants of PIL in older adults (≥65 years). Electronic searches were conducted in five databases (Medline, PsychInfo, Embase, CINAHL and Web of Science). A total of 44 studies were included in the review. PIL was conceptualized in six different ways: health and well-being, meaningful goals and purpose, inner strength, social relationships, mattering to others, and spirituality and religiousness. There were six main questionnaires and semi structured interviews used to capture PIL. Female gender, higher education and income, being married, ethnicity, health and well-being, inner strength, social integration and spirituality were associated with PIL. Majority of the included studies had low to moderate Risk of Bias (RoB) assuring confidence in the results. The conceptual frameworks of PIL identified in the review underscore the complexity of the construct. Several sociodemographic and other determinants of PIL were identified.
生活目的（PIL）是一种反映个人生活目标以及追求这些目标的愿望或决心的心理结构。拥有生活目标为我们随着年龄的增长采取健康行为提供了内在动力，这将有助于我们实现积极的健康结果。因此，促进 PIL 是成功老龄化和更好健康结果的基石。本系统评价旨在确定 PIL 在现有文献中是如何被概念化、测量的，以及老年人（≥65 岁）PIL 的决定因素是什么。在五个数据库（Medline、PsychInfo、Embase、CINAHL 和 Web of Science）中进行了电子检索。共有 44 项研究纳入了本综述。PIL 被概念化为六种不同的方式：健康和幸福、有意义的目标和目的、内在力量、社会关系、对他人的重要性以及精神信仰和宗教信仰。有六个主要的问卷和半结构化访谈被用来捕捉 PIL。女性性别、较高的教育和收入、已婚、种族、健康和幸福、内在力量、社会融合和精神信仰与 PIL 相关。纳入的大多数研究的偏倚风险（RoB）较低至中度，这保证了对结果的信心。本综述中确定的 PIL 概念框架强调了该结构的复杂性。确定了几个与 PIL 相关的社会人口学和其他决定因素。
